Members of the Nordic Folklife team will be presenting at the annual conference of the American Folklore Society. If you’re in the area, stop by!
Thursday, November 2: 01-06 Navigating Revitalization and Heritage Work in Nordic American Music and Dance Communities
In this panel, we discuss how heritage intersects with revitalization and sustainability efforts and the role of folklorists in those efforts. Using a framework that suggests heritage is constantly changing and evolving to reflect the needs and values of a community, we examine three specific case studies of Nordic American music and dance: a tour of Swedish folk musicians performing Swedish American labor songs, a community-based music ensemble established by a university-funded musician-in-residence program, and a high school Nordic folk dance group. In doing so, we examine the roles that folklorists can and should play in community-led revitalization efforts.
8:30 am
From the Printed Page to the Digital Age: Labor Songs and Poetry as Public Folklore
Marcus Cederström (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
9:00 am
Amplification Justification and Norwegian American Old-time Revitalization
Anna C. Rue (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
9:30 am
The Stoughton High School Norwegian Dancers at 70 Years: Tradition, Sustainability, and Public Folklore
Carrie Danielson (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Friday, November 3: 04-06 Representations in Immigrant Settlement and Interethnic Engagement in the Upper Midwest
The Upper Midwest of the United States has long been home to a shifting array of immigrant diasporas which have interacted within and built up emergent social spaces in concert and in conflict with other ethnic communities, settler and indigenous. This panel explores a few examples of the creative productions ethnic communities in the Upper Midwest have employed in establishing their presence in the region and in negotiating their identities in diaspora and in relation to neighboring groups.
8:30 am
Rice Lake Pageant 1920: Roots, Uprooting, Racism
James P. Leary (University of Wisconsin, Madison, emeritus)
9:00 am
Dwelling Together in Heritage and Memory: Synchronous Presentation of Somali and Scandinavian Homes in Museum Settings
Sallie Anna Pisera (UW-Madison Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures)
9:30 am
Local Centers/Global Sounds: Historic Recordings and Upper Midwestern Music Vernaculars
Nathan D. Gibson (University of Wisconsin, Madison)